This wiki is to collect information for CA 1 Life in Germany part B.
The focus of the representation is 'How were the Nazis able to control Germany 1933-39':
Repression or consent?
Repression: methods of control
SS
Gestapo
control of the Church
persecution of political opponents and minority groups, concentration camps
the use of propaganda and censorship
the control of education and youth
policies towards women.
Consent
economic reasons to reduce unemployment and consequent support for the Nazi government
the debate on standards of living in Germany 1933-1939.
So key question is how much was stick and how much carrot?
These are the factors listed in John Child's History A: The Making of the Modern World: Unit 2A: Germany 1918-39, Pearson Education, 2009, pp. 50-67:
The Nazi police state
The SS (Schutzstaffel): the Nazi's own private police force, totally loyal to Hitler: over the 1930s numbers expanded to 50k and put in charge of all other state security services. Carried out racial purifiation. The Totenkpf (Death's Head Units), pat of the SS, ran the concentration camps.
The Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) - secret police. Arrested those who acted against or spoke out against the Nazis, and responsible only to their comanders and Hitler - not to the law and courts. By 1939, 150k people imprisoned without trial 'under protective custody' for acting/speaking against teh Nazis. Gestapo was set up in 1933 by Goering, led by Heydrich, under the control of the SS from 1936. 'Germans particularly feared the Gestapo because they could not tell them apart from other members of the public.' (p.50)
Concentration camps - first one was Dachau, 1933. Used for political prisoners and 'undesireables'. About 20k prisoners by 1939, in six concentration camps: numbers increased massively after 1939 as focus of Final Solution.
Law courts - judges had to be members of National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law and they only got in if the Nazis approved of them. Hitler also set up te People's Court with hand-picked judges: tried those accused of offences against the stae. Hitler persoally intervened to increase sentences if he thought them too weak.
Repression of the Church - Hitler initially thought he could make the Churches follow his lead but there were issues with the Catholic Church in particular: (1/3 of Germans were Catholics) having their own supreme leader in Rome, their own school system, etc, and with Christianity in particular teaching tolerance rather than racial superiority, compassion for the weak rather than the glorification of strength and violence etc. While many Christian leaders in Germany supported the Nazis for fear of a Communist take over, Hitler crushed any who opposed him (e.g. Pastor Martin Niemoeller).
Persecution of political opponents
(this bit summarised from Edexcel GCSE History B Schools History Project: Life in Germany by Steve Waugh, Pearson Education 2009, pp50-53)
Following the Reichstag Fire of Feb 1933, Hitler was able to persuade President Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree giving the police powers to arrest people without trial: Hitler used these powers to get rid of the Communist Party leaders, even though there was no proof that the fire was a communist plot. Then the Enabling Act gave Hitler the power to make laws without getting the approval of Parliament. The SA surrounded the Reichstag to keep out Communist Party members and Hitler did deals with the Centre Party to get their support for the Act. After it has been passed, Hitler had the powers of a dictator and he used those powers to get rid of political opponents:
state parliaments were shut down, remodeled and opened again with Nazi majorities in each one: even this didn't do the job and Hitler abolished them all in Jan 1934 and all states came under central control
2 May 1933 trades unions were broken up and merged into the German Labour Front
also in 1933 other political parties were attacked and in July 1933 a law was introduced saying that only the Nazi Party was allowed
in June 1934 the Night of the Long Knives saw the purge of the SA: a real threat to Hitler - an almost out of control, 2 million men strong organisation that wanted to go further, faster than the Nazis: merger with the army (would alienate army leaders), socialist policies (alienate business and middle class)
Persecution of minorities,1933-39 (pp68-69)
Persecution of the Jews and other minorities linked to strong background of anti-Semitism and Hitler's own racial views, in which the Aryans were the master race (Herrenvolk), with other less worthy races below them, then the Untermenschen, sub-humans, which included Africans and the Gypsies and Jews as the worst of teh Untermenschen. As Hitler developed his theories he came to see Gypsies and Jews as Lebensuwertes - unworthy of life. When the Nazis got into power, they ramped up persecution: Nuremberg Laws (1935) and Krisallnacht (Nov 1938). IN 1939 Heydrich set up the Reich Office for jewish Emigration but enforced emigration proceeded slowly. In April 1939 orders went out to evict all Jews from their homes and housed in ghettos and other specific areas of cities until they could be deported.
'The Nazis kept some atrocities againt Jews secret. They punished people who criticised them. However, many Germans took part in the persecution: many others - and most other countries - did little to stop it. This is difficult to understand.... Som people seem to have convinced themselves that the suffering inflicted on Jews was not real; others were just too self-centered to care or too frightened to act' (p70)
Other minorities: Gypsies as per Jews; homosexuals as those ho undermined moral standards (concentration camps, voluntary castration programmes), those who weakened the ure German bloodline - unhealthy, disabled, mentally ill: sterilising the disabled, metally ill, alcoholics etc (700k Germans sterilised 1934-45), possibly unfficial policy of killing disabled children
Censorship and propoganda
Sometimes censorship and propaganda were linked: in 1933 Goebbels became Minister of People's Enlightenment and Propaganda - combining the two: he'd been head of Nazi propaganda from 1929.
Control of the press - no free press. The Nazis briefed the press regularly and sometimes just told them what to say. If they didn't do what they were told, they'd face the consequences
Control of the universities - academcs had to do Nazi-approved research and express agreement with Nazi theories
Control of the arts - Goebbels was in control of the Reich Chamber of Culture and writers, musicians, artists and actors had to be members: only those the Nazis approved of got in. The Nazis censored books they didn't approve of and millions of copies were publically burned. Jazz and modern art were not approved, art forms that prompted Nazi views were boosted
Government posters - advertized Nazi views
Rallies and parades - culminatig in mass rally each year at Nuremberg
Radio - all radio stations under Nazi control, Hitler and other Nazi officialsfrequently broadcast, plus thousands of cheap short range (i.e. not for picking up foreign stations) radios produced and distributed and radio speakers placed in public places
Architecture also controlled to put forward Nazi ideas.
Film - no TV so cinema was a hugely popular: films were acompanied by 45 mins official newsreels all about how great the Nazis were, Goebbels persnally approved the polt of every new film and some films made with overtly political messages
Sport - 1936 Olympcs prime example: eveything designed and organized to show off Germany as the greatest country in the world
Hitler the figurehead: 'Hitler's image was carefully crafted. He was the one who united the nation. He was shown as strong and decisive. But he was also frequently pictured with children to show that he was a caring father figure.' (p57) Waugh (p.53) 'To millions of Germans in the 1930s, Hitler was more than just a leader. He was the law-giver and almost a god-like leader.'
Youth and education
Schools - Nazis added new subjects like Race Studies and made other subjects into vehicles for their views, PE took up much more school time than before, girls did domestic studies to prepare them for marriage and motherhood, Mein Kampf was a compulsory school text
Youth movements - boys could join Hitler Youth from 14 (Hitler Jungvolk) - militray training. Girls had separate groups eg League of German Maidens - more training for health, marriage and motherhood. No class distinction in these movements
Women
Nazi views about women very different from what had begun to happen under Weimar: Nazis thought women should be good wives and mothers, not having their own jobs or identities as women: the 3ks: kinder, küche, kirche
Nazi policies on women had benefit of removing them more from the workplace, so making more jobs for men andreducing male unemployment
Various policies encouraged childbirth (but not really relevant to stick or carrot)
Work and unemployment
Banned trade unions (1933) and set up DA (German Labour Front) instead: 'The DAF's key role was to ensure that workers served the best interests of the Nazi regime' (p64): DAF set working condition tersm (so employers had to abide to DAF rulings), regulated working hours (which increased) and rates of pay, nd could alo punish workers. 'Although German workers lost their freedom to act collectively against employers, at least the DAF established what the minimum working standards should be, which prevented serious exploitation of labour by employers' (p64). Protecting rights helped ordinary Germans, as did...
Combatted unemployment via the RAD (National Labour Service): organised like the army. Pay was low and conditions poor but work was guaranteed and was of great benefit to Germany: RAD workers did manual work in farming, building public buildings and autobahns. Unemployment fell from 4.8 million in 1933 to 1.6 million in 1936 and 0.5 million in 1938.
Rearmament - 'the Nazi view was that the health of a nation depended upon constant struggle against other nations and that the German race needed Lebensraum (living space outside its existing borders). These views required military power. Therefore, Nazi policy towards the economy - like its policy towards youth - was organised to make Germany strong as a military nation' (65): this also helped unemployment - the German army grew from around 100k troops in 1933 to about 900k troops in 1939; also benefitted economy because of the demand or uniforms, guns etc.
The standard of living
Historians argue over whether the standard of living did go up or not: unemployment went down, wages did improve and there was more ability to uy consumer goods. The Nazis set up organisations to improve working conditions and leisure activities for workers (KdF - Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy). 'Hitler hoped people would recognise that they were better off than those in communist countries and that workers would see hard work as a noble thing... It worked. Public support for Hitler after 1933 was mainly due to his economic success.' (p.66)
Against this:
workers had little freedom under the DAF and hours increased
many of the unemployed were in the military or RAD
prices rose and cencelled out wage increases
livingstandards were so in teh Great Depression that anything would have looked like improvement
after 1936 the government was spending more than it was earning from taxes: not sustainable
imports were rising far faster than exorts
'If the war had not itervened in 1939, Germany would have started to run out of money, the economy would have stalled and living standards would have fallen again.' (p67)
CA1 Germany
This wiki is to collect information for CA 1 Life in Germany part B.
The focus of the representation is 'How were the Nazis able to control Germany 1933-39':
Repression or consent?
Repression: methods of control
Consent
So key question is how much was stick and how much carrot?
These are the factors listed in John Child's History A: The Making of the Modern World: Unit 2A: Germany 1918-39, Pearson Education, 2009, pp. 50-67:
The Nazi police state
Persecution of political opponents
(this bit summarised from Edexcel GCSE History B Schools History Project: Life in Germany by Steve Waugh, Pearson Education 2009, pp50-53)
Following the Reichstag Fire of Feb 1933, Hitler was able to persuade President Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree giving the police powers to arrest people without trial: Hitler used these powers to get rid of the Communist Party leaders, even though there was no proof that the fire was a communist plot. Then the Enabling Act gave Hitler the power to make laws without getting the approval of Parliament. The SA surrounded the Reichstag to keep out Communist Party members and Hitler did deals with the Centre Party to get their support for the Act. After it has been passed, Hitler had the powers of a dictator and he used those powers to get rid of political opponents:
Persecution of minorities,1933-39 (pp68-69)
Persecution of the Jews and other minorities linked to strong background of anti-Semitism and Hitler's own racial views, in which the Aryans were the master race (Herrenvolk), with other less worthy races below them, then the Untermenschen, sub-humans, which included Africans and the Gypsies and Jews as the worst of teh Untermenschen. As Hitler developed his theories he came to see Gypsies and Jews as Lebensuwertes - unworthy of life. When the Nazis got into power, they ramped up persecution: Nuremberg Laws (1935) and Krisallnacht (Nov 1938). IN 1939 Heydrich set up the Reich Office for jewish Emigration but enforced emigration proceeded slowly. In April 1939 orders went out to evict all Jews from their homes and housed in ghettos and other specific areas of cities until they could be deported.
'The Nazis kept some atrocities againt Jews secret. They punished people who criticised them. However, many Germans took part in the persecution: many others - and most other countries - did little to stop it. This is difficult to understand.... Som people seem to have convinced themselves that the suffering inflicted on Jews was not real; others were just too self-centered to care or too frightened to act' (p70)
Other minorities: Gypsies as per Jews; homosexuals as those ho undermined moral standards (concentration camps, voluntary castration programmes), those who weakened the ure German bloodline - unhealthy, disabled, mentally ill: sterilising the disabled, metally ill, alcoholics etc (700k Germans sterilised 1934-45), possibly unfficial policy of killing disabled children
Censorship and propoganda
Sometimes censorship and propaganda were linked: in 1933 Goebbels became Minister of People's Enlightenment and Propaganda - combining the two: he'd been head of Nazi propaganda from 1929.
Youth and education
Women
Work and unemployment
The standard of living
Historians argue over whether the standard of living did go up or not: unemployment went down, wages did improve and there was more ability to uy consumer goods. The Nazis set up organisations to improve working conditions and leisure activities for workers (KdF - Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy). 'Hitler hoped people would recognise that they were better off than those in communist countries and that workers would see hard work as a noble thing... It worked. Public support for Hitler after 1933 was mainly due to his economic success.' (p.66)
Against this:
- workers had little freedom under the DAF and hours increased
- many of the unemployed were in the military or RAD
- prices rose and cencelled out wage increases
- livingstandards were so in teh Great Depression that anything would have looked like improvement
- after 1936 the government was spending more than it was earning from taxes: not sustainable
- imports were rising far faster than exorts
'If the war had not itervened in 1939, Germany would have started to run out of money, the economy would have stalled and living standards would have fallen again.' (p67)